From the Desk of the Board Chair

Earlier this month the Shadowcliff board of directors met for our annual meeting. We spent one and a half days together, which is important time for us to spend to provide oversight and strategic direction for Shadowcliff. We accomplished a number of things that I am pleased to share updates about here.

A common struggle for most non-profits is figuring out how to gauge success at fulfilling our mission. Last year we identified three buckets, or areas, for monitoring our success. Those buckets are:

Connecting People with Place

Creating a Culture of Service

Financial Sustainability

We reviewed our accomplishments from the previous year in relation to accomplishing our goals and indicators within those three buckets. And we applied many lessons learned from our experiments with this approach so far.

Survivability was a theme that emerged from our conversations. In the last few years, Shadowcliff has been moving beyond sustainability. The idea of survivability took hold as an image relevant to our journey as we have navigated a transition with our management model.

We enjoyed a rare appearance from Patt Rempel. She shared her and Warren’s vision for starting Shadowcliff. It was a much appreciated perspective for us to hear and learn more about. As part of her letter, she requested that the board restore the name Chapel to what had been called The Center in recent years. We voted unanimously to restore the Chapel back to its original name. We also plan to continue reflecting on Patt’s letter and have further discussions about what it means to honor her and Warren’s vision for Shadowcliff to be a spiritual retreat center.

Lastly, we held an election for officers. I was elected as the new board chair, taking over for Bill Craig, who will continue to serve on the board helping me to provide continuity in leadership.

I am looking forward to the 2018 season for Shadowcliff. Hope to see you there!